The problem of friendly fire is one that is as old as the first war ever fought. Combat theaters throughout history and throughout the world have presented the problem of discriminating friend from foe in the heat of battle. This problem has become ever more acute as weapons systems become more powerful and more sophisticated and soldiers operate ever-more independently.
The first and best protection from friendly fire is information. Knowing where troops and resources are on a battlefield enables commanders and field leaders to operate more effectively and avoid accidentally firing at allies or non-combatants. Such information is usually channeled and directed through a central command center that relays information to various field units and helps them to coordinate their movements. While effective, it offers no back-up system to validate that the information is correct or to provide supplemental data in case troops and resources are forced to move into areas where they were not originally meant to go.
One solution to the issue of friendly fire, especially during night time, is the use of infra-red or GPS beacons. Soldiers in the field could use such beacons to identify themselves and signal their position to ground support aircraft operating in the area. This provides pilots and gunners in the airplanes an additional way to make sure they did not fire at or near friendly positions.
The use of conventional infra-red and GPS beacons has recently become problematic as most military and paramilitary organizations now have access to night-vision technology, including infra-red sensors and detectors, and GPS technology. Soldiers in combat theaters need a new way to identify themselves and their positions to ground support aircraft without alerting enemy combatants to their position. The system must also be capable of operating over long distances so that long-range support aircraft, operating sometimes as far away as three or more miles from the combat scene, will be able to detect and identify friendly troops and resources in the battlefield scene.